NBA Power Rankings: Are the Hawks alive again?

41. <p class=. (53-5). Previous: . Golden State Warriors. 1. team

29. <p>The Spurs have 50 wins and they’ve rattled off five straight victories on the road. They probably love flying under the radar but it is kind of ridiculous that they’ve been <em>this</em> good without much recognition.</p>. (50-9). Previous: . San Antonio Spurs. 2. team

156. <p>Two straight losses won’t sit well with anyone in Ohio, but the Cavs played without LeBron in Washington on Sunday, meaning that one should come with an asterisk. Cleveland is the best team in the East and, with all due respect to Toronto, that won’t change unless the Raps beat them in May.</p>. (41-17). Previous: . Cleveland Cavaliers. 3. team

<p>Oklahoma City lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night at the hands of Steph Curry, but the Thunder are still the third-best team in the West. It is fair to see they aren’t playing top-shelf basketball (losing four of five), but we saw their ceiling at times during that loss to Golden State.</p>. (41-18). Previous: . Oklahoma City Thunder. 4. team. 149

Previous: . Toronto Raptors. 5. team. 81. <p>The Kyle Lowry show propelled the Raptors to an impressive win over the Cavs this week. There are questions about Toronto’s long-term upside but their “A+” game is very, very good.</p>. (39-19)

77. <p>A home loss to Denver isn’t the best look for the Clippers. Still, this is a team that has more than survived without Blake Griffin and Chris Paul has been tremendous.</p>. (38-20). Previous: . Los Angeles Clippers. 6. team

7. team. 18. <p>Wins over Milwaukee and Denver at home won’t move the needle, but Boston just keeps taking care of business. Brad Stevens is a wizard.</p>. (35-25). Previous: . Boston Celtics

Atlanta Hawks. 8. team. 125. <p>The Hawks are this week’s biggest mover after back-to-back quality wins over the Bulls and Hornets. To be fair, Atlanta was ranked poorly last week based on a dreadful post-deadline stretch, but the Hawks are beginning to round into form and no one wants to play them in April and May.</p>. (33-27). Previous:

<p>There was some discussion about Portland being “overrated” after last week’s ascension in various power rankings, but the Blazers backed it up with a 3-1 week that included road wins over the Bulls and Pacers on back-to-back days. That’s pretty impressive.</p>. (32-28). Previous: . Portland Trail Blazers. 9. team. 34

<p>The Pistons are charging. This is a team with more talent than its record suggests, and Stan Van Gundy has this group playing improved basketball as displayed with three straight wins.</p>. (31-29). Previous: . Detroit Pistons. 10. team. 64

<p>Going 1-2 on a three-game homestand is suboptimal, and that explains Indiana’s slide this week. However, there is no shame in losing to the Hornets or Blazers at home, which mitigates some of the negativity.</p>. (31-28). Previous: . Indiana Pacers. 11. team. 100

Miami Heat. 12. team. 110. <p>The uncertainty surrounding Chris Bosh casts a shadow over the future of the Heat, but Miami remains quite competitive on the floor. It will be interesting to see how Erik Spoelstra is able to integrate the newly-signed Joe Johnson as well.</p>. (33-26). Previous:

team. 118. <p>The week started off quite well for the Jazz, as Utah claimed an overtime win over Houston. The ending, though, was what cost them a couple of spots, because losing the Nets (at home!) is unacceptable.</p>. (28-30). Previous: . Utah Jazz. 13

(31-28). Previous: . Dallas Mavericks. 14. team. 79. <p>There is nothing exciting about Dallas, but they just keep hanging around. There is no crime in losing to the Thunder, even at home, and the Mavericks will be mired in the middle until further notice.</p>

Charlotte Hornets. 15. team. 170. <p>Charlotte was ghastly (9 points in the first quarter) in a loss to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, and that leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Still, this is a team that is dangerous and Steve Clifford is doing yeoman’s work in North Carolina.</p>. (30-28). Previous:

(34-24). Previous: . Memphis Grizzlies. 16. team. 211. <p>How does a team fall three spots after a 2-1 week? Losing to the Suns is the cardinal sin of the NBA right now. It just shouldn’t happen.</p>

17. team. 142. <p>The Markieff Morris experiment looks to be paying dividends. Washington capped a 3-1 week with a win over the (Lebron-less) Cavaliers, but this rise is more about taking care of business against New Orleans and Philly than anything else.</p>. (28-30). Previous: . Washington Wizards

Houston Rockets. 18. team. 169. <p>Nobody is excited by Houston racking up a 1-2 week, but when the losses come at Utah and against San Antonio, it is very explainable. The Rockets are still a bit of a mess, but it is easy to see this team coming alive at any moment.</p>. (29-30). Previous:

24. <p>Another “blah” week for the Bulls can be explained with a tough schedule that included the Hawks (on the road) and the Blazers. Chicago is in turmoil with Jimmy Butler on the shelf but, at the very least, they need Derrick Rose back for some perimeter punch.</p>. (30-28). Previous: . Chicago Bulls. 19. team

team. 73. <p>The crown jewel of the week for Denver was a road win over the Clippers, and this young team can hang their hat on that. Danilo Gallinari’s injury is a huge blow to whatever faint playoff hopes exist, but the Nuggets are at least fun.</p>. (23-36). Previous: . Denver Nuggets. 20

(23-35). Previous: . New Orleans Pelicans. 21. team. 69. <p>Much like the Nuggets, the Pelicans are kept afloat with one nice win, as they topped the Thunder this week. Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday are good, but the rest of the roster is kind of a mess, and there is some built-in respect for Davis in this ranking.</p>

Previous: . Milwaukee Bucks. 22. team. 89. <p>The Bucks should be better than this, but the defense is miserable to watch at times. Milwaukee actually rises in the ranks based on the quality of their performance in defeat, but at some point, the excuses must cease.</p>. (24-35)

team. 27. <p>It was a “good” 1-2 week for the Knicks, in that they won the game (Orlando) that they were supposed to win and played competitively in losses to two quality teams. New York has been a well-chronicled disaster in recent weeks, but there are signs of progress.</p>. (25-36). Previous: . New York Knicks. 23

24. team. 38. <p>Beating the Sixers twice in one week isn’t enough, but at least Orlando took care of business. The Magic still leave viewers feeling empty inside, but that is to be expected (at least to some degree) for a team with this roster.</p>. (26-32). Previous: . Orlando Magic

25. team. 147. <p>Two wins in a row! On the road! The Nets are <em>cooking</em> right now, but we shouldn’t get carried away and, well, we won’t here.</p>. (17-42). Previous: . Brooklyn Nets

(24-33). Previous: . Sacramento Kings. 26. team. 84. <p>The Kings are the Kings. They lost to the Spurs and Clippers, to no great shame, this week, but Sacramento’s organizational dysfunction isn’t helping matters. Hey, Boogie Cousins is fun.</p>

Minnesota Timberwolves. 27. team. 86. <p>Minnesota is (much) more fun to watch than most teams at the end of this list, but Sam Mitchell’s team is so bad defensively that it doesn’t matter. Speaking of Mitchell, it would be preposterous if the Wolves removed the interim label from his title next year… so they probably will.</p>. (19-41). Previous:

<p>Welcome to the disastrous tier. The Sixers have lost eight straight and much of the competitive goodwill they built in January has evaporated. It’s ugly out here.</p>. (8-51). Previous: . Philadelphia 76ers. 28. team. 93

Previous: . Los Angeles Lakers. 29. team. 20. <p>Eight straight losses should be enough to take the Lakers all the way to the bottom, but they are granted a reprieve by a team that is (somehow) playing worse. At least Kobe is around to sell some tickets and generate some interest.</p>. (11-49)

30. team. 66. <p>I don’t care that the Suns beat the Grizzlies. Snapping a 13-game losing streak doesn’t immediately earn Phoenix an escape from the basement. They’ve been that wretched lately and, frankly, the Grizzlies should be ashamed.</p>. (15-44). Previous: . Phoenix Suns